The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Sunday, December 3, 2000,
Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

R E G I O N A L B R I E F S

PUNJAB

ABOHAR
REMANDED: Mohini Devi of Sadulshehar was remanded in judicial custody by a local court on Friday. She was arrested for allegedly torturing her daughter-in-law, Suman, for dowry. Two other members of the in-laws family had been arrested earlier.

THIEF ARRESTED: The police on Friday arrested Gulsher Singh of Government Seed Farm Colony for the theft of a mini-truck which had been parked on the old Fazilka road outside a shop. Sources said the vehicle had been recovered. Gulsher Singh disclosed that his accomplice was absconding.

SENTENCED: Four residents of Panjawa village have been sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and charged a fine of Rs 3500 each in a case registered in 1995 under Sections 323, 324, 326, 34, 148 and 149, IPC. Mr Tarsem Mangla, Judicial Magistrate, acquitted two other accused on Friday. Seven persons had been booked by the Khuian Sarwar police for assaulting Jaswant Singh with sharp-edged weapon.

BATALA
DHARNA: Mr Jagdish Sawhney, local MLA, and the municipal councillors of the Batala Municipal Council sat on a dharna on Saturday at the court complex to press for their demand to make the town a revenue district. Mr Raghubir Singh Sandhu, president of the local Bar Association also sat on the dharna.

BATHINDA
Blood donation camp: The local United Welfare Society organised a blood donation camp on Friday to mark the martyrdom day of Guru Teg Bahadur in the city. Eleven units of blood were collected. The district Red Cross Society awarded mementoes and collar pins to the donors. The Sahara Welfare Society also organised a blood donation camp on Friday.

DERA BASSI
EXAMINED: A total of 645 patients were examined at a free medical check-up camp jointly organised by the Mubarikpur panchayat and Rajput and Brahmin sabhas in Mubarikpur village on Saturday. The patients were given medicines free of cost.

FARIDKOT
Liquor seized: The police has impounded a truck containing about 54,000 pouches of illicit liquor near Palwal town in the district. The truck met with an accident with a tractor near Bamnikhera resulting in the death of a person. The driver of the truck fled from the spot.

GURDASPUR
Smugglers held: The police has arrested two inter-state charas smugglers, Dev Raj, alias Debu, and Ashwani Kumar. According to Mr Varinder Kumar, SSP, a naka was laid on Friday near Sherpur village in Pathankot subdivision on a tip-off. The smugglers were held and 2 kg of charas was seized. A case under the NDPS Act has been registered.

Cultural programme: The Radical Students Union, Punjab, organised a cultural programme presented by Gursharan Singh here on Thursday to mark the 85th birth anniversary of Kartar Singh Sarabha. Three plays were staged on the occasion. The play ‘Eh Main Nahin Hon Diyangi’ depicted the efforts of a woman to rid her son of drug addiction.

HOSHIARPUR
camp: Indian Bank, Hoshiarpur, organised a loan recovery camp on Thursday at Bhunga under the new policy of the Reserve Bank of India for out of court one-time settlement of dues. Mr S.K. Vermani, Deputy General Manager, addressing farmers said the bank would recover amount of loan as on date of filing the suit alongwith legal expenses. He said farmers should avail the benefit of the concession in interest by paying their dues before the cut-off date.

Condemnation: The local branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) condemned the life threats being given by unregistered medical practitioners to Dr Ashwani Goyal, secretary of the Jagraon branch. In a press note issued here on Friday, Dr S.K. Narad, president, and Dr Balvinder S. Ahuja, secretary of the association, said the IMA had taken a pledge to end quackery from Punjab. They appealed to the administration to deal with quacks sternly

Ludhiana
welfare projects: The Lions Club, Ludhiana South, would undertake service projects in the field of education, health care and environment. Giving details, Mr Charanjit Singh, President, and Mr Ramesh Banda, Zone Chairman, told in the general body meeting that free medical camps, eye check-up camps would be organised and drive to create awareness about the environmental pollution would be launched in the city.

visit: Shankaracharya Sant Shri Divyanand, accompanied by a large number of saints, visited the gaushala in the city. He was accorded a rousing reception by office-bearers of Shri Gau Rakshni Sabha, including Mr Sham Lal Sapra, Mr Kiran Sharma Mr Narinder Chawla, Mr Sham Sunder Malhotra, Mr Dalip Thapar and the former deputy mayor, Mr Prem Mittal. The distinguished guests and others accompanying him fed the cows and exhorted those present there to serve the cow.

hailed: The restoration of water supply during the day by the municipal corporation has been widely welcomed in the city. Mr Mohinder Aggarwal, General Secretary of Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal, and Mr Raju Bindra, Secretary of the Bhartiya Janata Party (East Mandal), have said that the MC had done well to review its decision and restore the day time water supply in view of the mounting resentment and unrest among the city population. They further said that the move had, even otherwise prove counter productive, because during the period there was no water supply in the day, the people were resorting to unnecessary storage of water in the morning and evening.

camp: The Lions Club, Ludhiana North, organised a free dental check-up camp at Government Middle School, Ambedkar Nagar, here on Saturday. A press release made by Mr Jatinder Paul Singh Saluja, Public Relations Officer of the club, said renowned dental surgeon, Dr Sadhu Singh Kalsi, checked up more than 100 children. Dr Kalsi made the children aware about various dental problems.

Camps organised: A farmer training camp was organised by Novartis with help of Punjab Coop Markfed and Punseed at Jhande and Hambran villages. More than 500 farmers attended these camps. Mr Aswinjit Singh Josan, Director, Massco, was the chief guest. Mr Malwinder Singh Malhi, District Manager, assured the farmers of sufficient supply of Topik weedicide. These weedicides kill resistant Phalaris minor (gulli danda) and does not harm wheat, sarson and fellow crops. Farmers were also told about the selection of spray pumps and methods of spraying of weedicides.

function: More than 100 students of Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Civil Lines, received prizes for their performance in academics, sports and cultural activities at an annual function held on Saturday. Lala Lajpat Rai, MP, was the chief guest on the occasion. The function was presided over by Ms Usha Sidhu, District Education Officer (secondary). The Principal, Ms Promilla Arora, read the annual report of the school.

awareness camp: The Ludhiana Traffic Police organised a traffic awareness camp at Sanatan Senior Secondary School, Civil Lines, on Saturday. The team led by Mr Satish Malhotra, DSP (Traffic), gave a video demonstration on traffic rules. Later, he held a discussion on traffic rules with the school students. He told them about the aftermaths of driving when drunk. The Principal, Narinder Sharma, told the students to adhere to the traffic rules to avoid any mishap.

NAWANSHAHR
dIed: Veteran freedom fighter Mohan Lal Sareen (79) died of cardiac arrest on Thursday. His mortal remains were consigned to flames here on Friday.

Killed: Charanjit Singh (30) of nearby Karyam village died when his scooter met with an accident near Langroya village on Thursday.

PATIALA
post of geography: “The post of geography lecturer or teacher will not be converted to any other post,” said Mr Tota Singh, Education Minister of Punjab, in his inaugural address at the first Punjab Geographers Conference on Saturday. The conference was organised at the Seminar Hall of Language Department of Punjab. The keynote address was delivered by Professor Mangat. He spoke on the ‘Positioning of Geography in the New Millennium’ and discussed the importance of the subject and its role. He highlighted the future needs of geography.

PHAGWARA
OFFICE-BEARERS: Mr Madan Mohan Bajaj has been reappointed president of the Block Congress Committee, Phagwara. In a press statement released here on Friday, Mr Bajaj has announced the office-bearers of the new executive committee. The following are the office-bearers: senior vice-president — Mr Surinder Sondhi and vice-presidents — Mr Sushil Prashar, Mr Sushil Maini and Mr Lal Chand Lally.

SAMRALA
NOTICE: Mr Balbir Singh Rajewal, general secretary of the BKU, has threatened to file a suit against the Department of Telecommunications for allegedly disconnecting his telephone without any fault or notice. He said he had paid his telephone bill at the local post office on time and there were no dues pending against him.

HARYANA

AMBALA
DEMANDED: The president of the Elders Forum, Ambala Cantonment, Mr Shiv Dayal Gupta, on Saturday demanded that the road behind the cemetery here should be completed at the earliest as it would reduce the traffic between PWD Rest House Chowk and Supply Depot, a release said. He also observed that the civic condition here and particularly in Anaj Mandi was deteriorating. He said the municipal council should take steps to improve the civic conditions.

BHIWANI
Admission test: Admission test for the next educational session for Sainik School, Kunjpura (Karnal), will be held on February 28. According to a spokesman, the students born between July 2, 1990 and July 1, 1991 can appear for class VI test and those born between July 2, 1987 and July 1, 1988 can sit for the test for class IX. The students who had appeared in the test last year would not be given another chance, he added.

Suicide: Three members of a family reportedly tried to commit suicide by burning themselves here on Friday. Surender, his wife Lovely and brother Gulshan got burn injuries. They were admitted to the Civil Hospital here where Lovely died of 100 per cent burns. Her husband and brother-in-law, who suffered more than 60 per cent burns, have been referred to Pt Bhagwat Dayal Medical College, Rohtak.

Cases registered: The police has registered 58 cases under the Excise Act during the past one month. The district police chief, Dr Suman Manjri, said here on Friday that 4,800 bottles of liquor were seized besides 160 kg of lahan. One person was arrested and 1 kg of opium was seized from his possession.

JIND
CRIMINAL ESCAPES: Dharam Raj, alias Dharamaja, escaped from police custody at Narwana on Thursday. He was held on charges of murder and for threatening people for ransom. Dharam Raj was reportedly produced in a court at Narwana on Thursday from where he escaped giving a slip to an Assistant Subinspector. The ASI has been suspended for dereliction of duty.

ROAD MISHAP: A youth, Dharaminder, of Jhanj village was killed and nine persons were injured when the vehicle in which they were travelling was hit by a truck on the Jind-Narwana road on Thursday. The injured have been admitted to the local general hospital.

SONEPAT
BODY FOUND: The police found the body of a newly born baby lying in a vacant plot in a residential colony here on Saturday. A case has been registered. The body has been sent for a postmortem examination.

KILLED: A scooterist was killed on the spot when he was hit by a car on the G.T. road between Bari and Teha villages, about 15 km from here on Friday. The victim was an employee of the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam and he was going to his home at Sanpera village

DEMOLISHED: Officials of the district administration accompanied by a police team razed to ground 50 houses illegally built on the gram panchayat land at Sirana village, about 25 km from here on Friday. The action was taken on the directive of the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala.

ARRESTED: A youth, Biloo, was arrested by the police here on Friday night, following seizure of 23 liquor pouches from his possession. A case under the Excise Act has been registered against him.

REINSTATED: The Superintendent of Police, Mr A.S. Chawla, reinstated the SHO, Civil Lines, Mr Mohinder Singh. The police officer was placed under suspension recently following his alleged involvement in a gambling case. But the allegations were found baseless.

CENSUS: Mr Naresh Gulati, Director of the Census in the state, inaugurated a one-day district-level census training programme here on Friday. The Deputy Commissioner, the Additional Deputy Commissioner, the subdivisional officers of Sonepat, Ganaur and Gohana, also participated in the programme. Mr Gulati said the first round of the population census had been completed.